What fascinated me today, though, was a revelation reported on my brother's blog that Kennedy attempted to get the leader of the USSR, Yuri Andropov, to help him beat Reagan in the 1984 presidential election.
(As reported in Forbes Magazine) A reporter for the London Times came across a memorandum that outlined Kennedy's plan.
On 9-10 May of this year," the May 14 memorandum explained, "Sen. Edward Kennedy's close friend and trusted confidant [John] Tunney was in Moscow." (Tunney was Kennedy's law school roommate and a former Democratic senator from California.) "The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov.
Kennedy's message was simple. He proposed an unabashed quid pro quo. Kennedy would lend Andropov a hand in dealing with President Reagan. In return, the Soviet leader would lend the Democratic Party a hand in challenging Reagan in the 1984 presidential election. "The only real potential threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations," the memorandum stated. "These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign."
Kennedy made Andropov a couple of specific offers.
First he offered to visit Moscow. "The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA." Kennedy would help the Soviets deal with Reagan by telling them how to brush up their propaganda.
Then he offered to make it possible for Andropov to sit down for a few interviews on American television. "A direct appeal ... to the American people will, without a doubt, attract a great deal of attention and interest in the country. ... If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interviews. ... The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.
Kennedy would make certain the networks gave Andropov air time--and that they rigged the arrangement to look like honest journalism.
Go read the full article...it'll amaze you how the media is SO biased that even something of this magnitude is ignored. Or maybe it won't if you're already completely jaded by the media in general.
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My most enduring memory of Ted Kennedy came shortly after the Abu Ghraib story broke. He stood on the Senate floor and said, "This may very well go all the way to the top." He then called for the resignations of President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld on the basis of nothing more than his suspicion that they had a hand in it.
A statesman would have called for an investigation and, mindful of the fact that in this country people are innocent until proven guilty, would have refrained from calling for punishment of anybody until evidence was found that would give reason for such punishment.
Ted Kennedy chose to play politics with it, as he did with everything else that came before him. The truth was unimportant. His political agenda was all that mattered.
Kennedy was the most shamelessly political animal I ever saw. Some people improve the Senate by coming to it; some improve it by leaving it. Ted Kennedy belongs firmly in the latter category.
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